Throughout the years as more ladies started playing and others joined the club, the ladies section has grown and when the Pink Rink ladies league started, Balwearie entered a team. The Balwearie team players were initially the youngest competitors in the league with most being only fourteen and suffered early defeats against the older ladies in tournament one. In T2 as other women from the club joined, the team gained strength and the younger girls gained confidence to play against the other teams. With the arrival of Italian international player Romina Micheli the girls gained surprising results. Although the league is well beyond them this year, next year who knows?
After numerous ladies floorball events; Aberdeen Oiler's Lorna Teal and Linda Glass decided to arrange a small field league consisting of three tournaments and a play-offs. The league consists of four teams. Aberdeen, Balwearie, Glenrothes and St Andrews.
T1 Northern League Ladies tournament one 2009/2010.
Storm came up against a very good Glenrothes side who look like title contenders from the start. Storm played very well for a team that had only one training session this season but could not contain the Orhstrom sisters Sanni and Janni who ran the show for Glenrothes. Storm's Romima Micheli played to her usual high level and was a standout on the day for the Balwearie team. Youngsters Lorraine Heggie and Rachel Walker played extremely well for a pair who had not trained at all since last years ladies play-offs. Deborah Morgan was her usual industrious self up front giving her all to help the team. Laura Duff and Mhorag McDougall played really well in defence. However the superior fire power of the Glenrothes team soon put them three goals up. Storm never gave up and scored two goals before Glenrothes put another between the pipes. Storm then brought the score back to 4-3 before Glenrothes went 7-3 up. The Balwearie Ladies then scored another to end the game with Glenrothes winning 8-4. Storm could not be faulted for effort and indeed had as much of the game as Glenrothes but the better finishing firepower of the Glenrothes ladies told throughout the match.
Storm's second game was against St Andrews Hot Shots who had beaten Aberdeen in their previous game. Storm's finishing was much better in this match and they went one up before the Hot Shots replied with an equaliser. However Lorraine Heggie increased Storms lead to 3-1 with a brace. Rachel mWalker then added another and Storm were coasting. However whether it was tiredness or a lack of concentration, Storm let the Hot Shots back in and possibly a lack of experience as Storm gave the ball away trying to go forward instead of consolidating their lead brought the score back to 4-3 and almost on the final whistle Hot Shots scored the game equaliser. Hopefully a valuable lesson learned that it's not over till it's over. Fair game to St Andrews for their tenacity but it was a game Storm should have won. Final ,score 4-4.
T1 The younger girls Amy Alison, Lorraine Heggie and Rachel Walker were joined by Edith Heggie, Mhorag McDougall from Lightning and Laura Duff who was playing in her first floorball tournament. Julie Campbell from Chapel FBC played as Goalkeeper. This tournament was a vast learning curve for the girls as the ladies from St Andrews showed they were much fitter and stronger. Although St Andrews Hot Sox Ladies did not play league floorball, they played with the men on training nights and this stood them in great stead for the ladies league. Balwearie's inexperience showed and they were beaten by 7 to 1. The game did not reflect the score as Balwearie held their own but could not get the ball in to the opposition net and when tiredness set in the superior running power of St Andrews took control of the match.
Next up was Glenrothes who consisted of experienced players from Sweden and Finland and included the girls training partner Jenna Howes. This was a match where experience led the way but the Balwearie girls played to their strengths and put up a better show of scoring against Glenrothes by scoring three past the opposition. However Glenrothes were up for the match and eventually won the game by 7 to 3. All in all a learning curve for the girls but they enjoyed the day. Back to Top
T2 At T2 Deborah Morgan and Romina Micheli joined the girls and with Julie injured Richie Howes stepped in as Goalkeeper. This turned out to be a much better tournament for Balwearie as the experience of Deborah and Romina equalised the sides a bit more evenly. Romina in particular brought her years of experience of playing at the top level and showed why she is still playing for Italy at the world championships. Balwearie and Aberdeen played a very end to end game with the scores evening up time after time. Balwearie almost lost the game as they were 4 - 3 down with minutes to go but scored a deserved equaliser to claim their first point against a team that was fancied for the title. Final score 4 - 4. In the second game Balwearie actually went 3 - 0 up at the interval against st Andrews Hot Sox the team that had beaten them 7 - 1 in the previous tournament however tiredness and inexperience played a part as they shipped goals in the second half by not clearing their lines and eventually losing by 5 - 3. A particular highlight was not conceding a goal during a two minute penalty awarded against them playing two against the Hot Sox Three players. This tournament was a vast improvement on T1 and the girls can only get better and stronger. Back to Top
T3 Well what a difference a couple months makes. The girls played with some confidence and in the first game had most of the play against Aberdeen, creating chance after chance. If at least half the chances that came their way had went in, they would have been out of sight by the end of the first period. However other aspects of their play meant the girls had most of the possesion and that was enough to see them have their first league win at 3 - 2.
In the next game against the league leaders and eventual champions Glenrothes, the girls went 3 - 1 down but fought back to 3 - 3 which forced the Glenrothes bench into a time out and to shorten their bench. Balwearie also shortened their bench to counteract and finished the stronger of the two in a thrilling draw enjoyed by players and spectators alike. If the girls can raise their game even just by a little percentage, then they could live with the best teams and fear none of them. For most of the girls this is their debut season playing floorball, with only Romina Micheli having played in the league at a higher level. Three of the girls are only fifteen and one is fifty four the day after T3, so there is a vast age difference between them and most of the league. In a few years the younger girls will get match savvy and strong enough to compete with the ladies on a more equal footing. Back to Top
Pink Rink for breast cancer: Courtesy of Lorna Teal and Floorball-World.com
Pink Rink is a worldwide floorball initiative in order to promote the game of floorball, while benefiting breast cancer awareness and research.
In October of 2009, the first ever worldwide Pink Rink event will take place, with an estimated 10 countries taking part in the event. With the co-operation of Floorball-World.com , Pink Rink will become a global event; it will be the first global charitable floorball event to have ever taken place.
Pink Rink was first developed by the Northern Ladies Floorball League in Great Britain in order to promote women's floorball.
The first event took place in September of 2007 in Dundee, Scotland, and was a success, drawing out 20 players.
Since then, the Pink Rink events have continued almost every three months on a regular basis and have been well supported and successful.
The event has encouraged ladies of all ages (9 to 50) to participate in the sport of floorball; some completely new to the sport and others who can not play floorball on a regular basis.
The idea to play "Swiss style floorball" (3-on-3 with a goalkeeper on a 20 x 10 m rink) aimed to enhance the participation of everyone on the rink.
In September of 2008, a Swiss-style league was set up in Scotland, thus creating the " Northern Ladies Floorball League ". The league is currently in its 2008-09 regular season. Back to Top
The UK National Floorball Championships will be held at Meadowbank in Edinburgh this year (2009) on the 2nd and 3rd of May. More info to follow. Back to Top
The Northern Ladies League finished season 2008/09 on 23rd May at FIPRE in Glenrothes with the Ladies Play-Offs. The inaugural event has been a huge success and credit goes to Lorna and Linda and all those who have made the league an event that everyone who took part in it, enjoyed it tremendously.
Balwearie played the first semi final against Glenrothes in a close game which swung from end to end. The scores were even all the way through, twice Balwearie took the lead only for Glenrothes to peg them back. All through the match there was only one goal separating the teams even when both teams went a player down through bench penalties. Balwearie even survived a penalty shot. The crux came when Glenrothes called a time out then came out and went a goal ahead with two minutes to go. As is usually the situation Balwearie lost another goal chasing the equaliser. The final score was Balwearie Storm 3 - Glenrothes Grrrowl 5. Nobody could fault the girls efforts but they would miss out on the final. Third or fourth place play-off was between Balwearie and St Andrews Hot Sox, a team that had beaten the girls each time they had played them and the girls knew they had to up their game to take anything from this match. The girls proved they could by winning 3 - 1 and end their season on a high.
Balwearie's Romina Micheli was awarded one of the three All-Star trophies along with Aberdeen's Lorna Teal and Glenrothes's Janni Ohrstrom as voted on by the coaches.